All-Star Game selection and won two Olympic gold medals Charles Barkley (cid:18918)(cid:18918)(cid:18918) GLOBETROTTING TO THE NBA Wilt Chamberlain ranks as one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA His 31,419 points 13 trips to the All-Star Game and two NBA titles are proof of that But
Chamberlain wasn’t an instant star in the NBA He got his professional start playing for the Harlem Globetrotters The goofy squad of entertainers that travels the world playing trick ball signed Chamberlain while he was in college Reports say Chamberlain was paid about 50,000 for his one season with the team Wilt Chamberlain
(cid:18918)(cid:18918)(cid:18918) ADDICTED TO STRAWS Beginning when he was a teen former first-round draft pick Caron Butler chewed drinking straws during games During each NBA game Butler would chew up a dozen straws That was until he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 2010 and the NBA banned the practice The league said Butler’s habit was dangerous Some of his teammates said it was plain weird As for Butler he said it helped him relax But after Butler gave up the straws during games he and his team won an NBA title Caron Butler
(cid:18918)(cid:18918)(cid:18918) HE DIDN’T TRUST TIME ZONES Thanks to time zones it’s possible to take a short flight and land at an earlier local time than the time in the town you left behind That was the case for former American Basketball Association ABA and NBA player Marvin Barnes Barnes was set to board a flight with his team from Louisville Kentucky to St Louis Missouri The 56-minute flight departed from the Eastern Time Zone and landed in the Central Time Zone From the takeoff and landing times on the ticket it appeared as if the flight would land four minutes before it took off When Barnes saw the times on his ticket he said I ain’t getting on no time machine He rented a car and drove himself to St Louis
